As Harper Lee famously quoted, “You can choose your friends but you sho’ can’t choose your family…” (To Kill a Mockingbird). There’s something to that. How do we choose friends? And, how fortunate if the methodology for choosing friends, turns out to be the same formula for nurturing a relationship with a sibling?

As impending parents we consider how we can best influence this precious life on the brink of joining us, we think about how will it change our dynamic and, will we ever sleep again (the stories are scary!)?

In considering how to raise kind children, I reflected back to when the word “kindness” superseded “nice” in my consciousness. Because, as much as validating and modeling kindness benefits our children, a defining moment could ingrain it.